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i> • I , .., P •i • < • • • " -l.., • ••;. > ' ... < • •< • • ,o••' 1 0 ·-· •" I -·' TH& PACIFIC AR&A

T HE P(l:ci1ic Ocean, ...,,hJch e:xlend=:1 nine thousand rniJ~ eost and weet at the equotor .md eight thout1o.nd miJes north and $01.lth from AJcUka to Antarctica, !s the world'; largest bod~· o.l w(l!er. lts o.reo. lsgrceite-r than that ol all th0c oontinents, ot about one,.lhird the surfooe of the globe. It 1s tho oceon with the CJteate!ll depths, the ste.:,pest sidos, the Jonqes.t currents, the greatest volcttnic activity. It hae mcny other !nte:reStiOQ oceanographtca! feature$ but we a.re ooncemed primarily with tt!I ii,lo.ods, o! which lhc,ro .&re more than thfrty thou&ond--or muny ti.mes the number In i,11 th@ other oceans cornbinod- for they p."'OvSde the homelands fot human occupation. Thc1;0 i,londs lire not equally distributed throu9houl fhjs vast expan50 ol water. The majority, including the oonUncnt of Auiitr,$lio ond the very la~ island!}, ore found in the weotom third of the PaciJic. Most of the remt1inder, generally !n clu::;tor;: or chains. Jail within the oonfl"al third, whereos virtually none, i!: p~oont in the eastern or AmerfCc.'ln third. With the importa:nt ¢x(.."()ptions o( Taamanta and lhe aoulhcrn J)OftiollS of New 2.eala,'d Md Au$tralio. and the Afootfo.n and Jopa.nese islo.nds which lie outside the bounds of Ollt aro& of interest, all the Pacific islands ar¢t ooniined to tropical laUhJd<.'$. Thi$ 1$land workl is tr«Jitionally dMd<.-d into five mojor areas. on the be.s:.is of the cultura) differe:noes PfG\'O.iling in the slx¼enth oontury when Europeans first visited t.he rGQion to ''discover'' !..$lands dlraddy i;etlled for periods varylnQ from o. few hundred years in the eo.&lem Pnclf!c lo possibly lhro(t,,(Juarters of o million years in Jcwo. These grand dlv'ls:ion.s are: Australia., Melanesia, Polyt•esia, Micronesia and Malays:ia (See mop, p. 6). The AustraUan area includes the island of Tasmania 11& o sub-area. Mel;mesta, norned oJter the darl:- complexion of its inh<1bltants, Ox• lend$ from wastem New Gutnea 10 Fiji ond includes New Brilain, New Ireland, the Admlr,;tlltes, lhe 5:>lomons, the $.,nta Cruz Md Bonl:-s blonds, the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands and Now C.aledonla. In many l"e$pe,¢l$ Fiji is o.ssoclated with Polytte$ia. Thc, Polyoes!o.n area l.!I qenerdlly do[ined os o. vast t:Mang!e delimited 7 by the Howo.llan !stands on the north, Eafi'ler Island on lhe east and New 2.eakind on the 90\lthwest. Within this triangle are Samoo, Tonoa, Uw Society Isl.mds, lhe C:OOk Islands, the Australs, the M.:i.rquesas end rnany &Ml1$r qroups and isolo.tod $Ingle islands. Fiji belongs in port lo thi$ area. Mlcror.-esia extend$ east and west from the Pelew (P4Jou) Jslands lo the Ellioe islands ,:md includes the Ma.rion<1$, the exter.sJve Co.roline'l:I, the Marsha.U Islands, the Gi1berl blands and a few isOJated ISiands such c$ Nauru. The vas.t majority of these tslands are tiny. hence the n4l1l8 Micronesia. indO)lesla inc!udes till the tslonds of tho East Indies, Sumotrc, Java, Borneo, Ce!ebes, the Sunda Jslands lo Timer, the Habnoheros, C-crem and many ffllall Isl.ands to th& west of New Guinea, the 1,hilippinos, Form0$a, the Malay Penlnsu!o o.nd !he Andamon l:slondis. Weetem lndonesja from Suma.lra and Javo to the Philir,p1nes ts gener,::,.Uy known as Malaysia, The boundarit$ of culture creo, are f1utd, for they m.ay change over the course of timtt as lhe oontent ol cuJtu~ changes. Thus they have no hxed r(l-)ationshlp to nregion as determined by the variou.is nc.tural oolenoes, Jt ts unn8(:C$$0ry for our pur~ to discuoo in d~t.ail the geology, geography or climole of !he ls!onds, t;a9t Indies, New Guinea, New Sritoin o.nd New lre1.:i.nd (Ir(! similar in goo-)OQ'i¢a1 structure lo A,;isea l~vel. there are few00tal tslandsin tho southwestern o..re~but they are numerous in lhe cenlra.l Pb<::ihc and, with o. fow important exoepUons. typical of the Mi-CrOnesian chain, Coral tslonds ui;ually Qte bused upon on underwater volcanic structure which extends to within two hundred feel d. see, level. If attcched to a submerged mountain nmge they may f-orm a chain o( long narrow islands. If the loundation l-s more exteMive ~y may foUow the ctrcumferenoe, us al Bikini, Md form 4 rough ci.rclo ot atoll. Of l~r qrealer signiJic::ance to man than 1he differe-noes in structure 8 of volcanic and ooral islands are lhe effects of these differences.. The two n-.ay lie in the same lc,Utude, be wt1e:J,ed by lhe &rtm~ <:urrcnb ond mc.rk. the J)Cllh ol the $Cl.me •N)J.'ld:;, but their di:;:;imiJo.r fundament.111 charoclor&, combined with other noturaJ phenomena, hove produced very dJvergent condlttons for the .:iccommodotton of LIYlnQ metier. ihe high Islands exlracl a.bu,)d.o:'lt rahtlall from lhe J)¢cSSing cloud:; ond iil$t1C it in :;troom.:; ond sprinq:s lo nourfah o voriod p)ont Ufo rooted in rich volconic aoil In the low islond& the rolniaU is much more uneven and 1n some coral lslands freeh water ts unavallable ecxcepl es co11cctod ra1nwoter. As a relluft, lhe IJorti !!I limiltd lhe Jew Jipc,cles of p),1nts which li\'C in :;ond o.nd :.nibsUlt on brocki:;h nouri:;hmont. It is one tn4tler for the volconic islands to provide th& cond!tlorus suited to a varied flora and quite another to acquire the :planb. Wild planls mSQre tc rclativoly oa.sily on lh() g~I land mt!:$$85 but in an OCOo,nic ar&a only thosa with i;peciol ch,:1rocteristic1> can cro1is the groot dist.:inoes of eea. Although an interesting indigenous flora is found In many h!qh ooea.nlc islatlds, pa·~ucularly above U-,e l,20().foot line, a l~rg¢ proportion of tho plonls (llonQ tho ~t;t$ (Ind in the mounf4in volJeys ore tho6e with seeds. which ore either lightweight .:i.nd readJ)y wind-carried, eaten by birds and depoeited by them over gre,at dlstances, er floated by ocean curte-nts lrom one Island to another. Tho <:ht1::r.acl~ri1,lic.1; od thq Hor" of lho Paei!ic lhu$ very not only in lerms of distance from Asio <1nd Austro)ia- the greoter the disfdnce the fewer the number of related species-but also in terms of high 1:Slands vets·us low idartds. th111 si!ual1M is or parUeulat tmportanon in ~r.l to wi]d plants voluoble to mon as Jood. whether in lhEir seeds, fl'llJt, stems, Jeoves or roots; for such sources of diet ore relotively abunda11t in the F.aa.t lndtes, 1~ common 1n the New Guinea area. and Au$tr.o.lio, soorce in th& \·oJcMi<: lslands of lhe ceJ\tral Pactffc .and \•'irt\lally locking in I.ha oor.:i.l islands, Of ail the culti\'a.led locd plonts in the world, none hos been developed from the indigenous floro of oreas to the east of Malaysia. A :;imUar progr8$$:iOO f:rom west to &e$l i$ to b,, nOlod in respect to founo. The western is!.:i.nds of lhe Ea.st Indies horbor the typically oon, ttnental animals of southe.i:stem Asia, 1ncluding the higher mammal$, whereas trow &Ii aod Celebes et'l$1wafd to New lrelond, AU$lrAliei ond Ta&mo.nio, only marsupials end o few other primith·e forms a~ found. In the remainder of Oceanie are only rots .:ind mJce, preewnobly Intro• 9 duced by humon ooeJtcy. Crocodiles ond po1!10nOu!I a:rtal:es o~ lack.ing in genertil eaist of the New Gutiteu area, ,:a)though o fow hom:tle&s sno.kee: a.re present ('IS for .:is 5.:uno,:,;. Th~ number of species of Jiz.1rds and birds likewise diminbshes !rom west to e.:a:iL Fish, ca the other- hand, aOOun,c:! in the tu'ld rivers e,•e.rywhere, and voriou$ crueia~ans Ull-u<1,lly ore plenlilu), Thus, U we divide the P.:acUic f$lands into sub-areas on the basis ol no.hm,l phenomcno, a varying number of divi!liOr\S can bo <;folimitOO, depending¢n thecnlerio r,elected. Adassific.:a.tion bdsiedon landtn.:ammala t'lels off the wr;!rlern £.:.st Jndj()!; as lhe area of placental anJmats, U,e remoinder oi the EA!t lndlee .:and tho b;lands eaS'lward to New kclaod, Austr.:alio and Tasmania as the .oreo of ttl4nvpi ~ rar enough to sight d ii;hinl ls.lands, nor lh lo shore until about the bell'jirt.n1ng Qf th9 Christian E:ta, and.the northern Cl-iineee contlnued lhi!:l t.<1dilion W1til oovera) centur!~ Joler. We haYe no baSis for an o&~ption that condtHons In. the Ee&t lndiee were ever more od•,onoed lhoo ihose on the conlinonL The proxtmity of Suml'lrd ond the Ma!oy Peninsula on Uie 9C4 route between southel'n end eostern Asia ind!cate!I lhnl dev~lcpmenta in one would soon d!(hi&e lo the other. II !herelor-e sec:lms wommted to assume that COro$lwi.ae soiling <)nd Wort inl8r-i.slond voyoging in the Eaiit [ndf~ did not change to ooean ,•oyo.ging across w1de ex~n.$&-1 cl ooa unlit late in the f1riil rnUhmnium B.C .• the appro•tmat&titM such o. development was !aki09 p!oce in other regions along fuo Asiotic oo,ost Jndeed, the tradition of shoreline salllno conlitlues to prevail throughout moa:t ol lh-e o.reo of cloeely spaced islands e,·en today. It lhus 6ppeo.rs lhot although human movements end migrtitions in the P\\Cific regions have always had to Ov$r¢0me woter borriers. the specilic problems have vaMed from ploce to ploce and from time to time, <:kpend- ing o."1 roan'$ cultural a ttoin.n-.ents. When the Pacilic Moot wos Jirst JXli;sibly not long before the beQi.nrung of the Christian Era, lhe:r,e vanished the l~s1 barrier to lhe islo.nds of Micronesia, Polynesia ond eastern Melant$i4, and with it o frontier along whtch man had lived for thousand; cf yco.rs without knowlng of lands beyo1ld. Tha imp:,rtonce 13 of this gap is apparent because of its greatness. It is more difficult to realize that other much smaller gaps may likewise have served to delay man's eastward expansion for great periods of time. Some day archaeolo- gy should be able to indicate which of the various prehistoric peoples and cultures reached, but, for one reason or other, did not pass, respec- tively: Wallace's Line east of Bali, the Molucca sea, the strait between New Ireland and the Solomons, and, in several localities, the Pacific Moat. To early prehistoric man such breaks in the close continuity of islands may have constituted insuperable obstacles in much the same manner that Bass Strait has barred the Australians of the proto-historic period from reaching Tasmania. Since the geology, geography, fauna and flora of all the Pacific areas were essentially the same in the Pleistocene Period as they are today, the problems of early human occupation can be visualized in terms of the natural conditions now prevailing. Landsmen who lacked swimming logs or ralts and were unable or unwilling to swim straits of shark-infested waters could have walked to Sumatra, Java and Bali during various periods when the ocean level was one hundred feet lower than at present, but could not have passed the Bali-Lombok Strait. Raftsmen could have proceeded along the Sunda Chain to Flores and Timor without crossing straits wider than twelve miles at present sea level, and from Flores to Celebes and the western Moluccas without negotiating more than twenty-five miles of open but protected sea be- tween any two islands. Possibly a long halt was required at the Molucca Sea, if we may judge by the present minimum width of about sixty miles separating the western and southern islands from those to the east; but once the latter islands were reached there would have been no important obstacles to the occupation of all of New Guinea, New Ireland and New Britain. New Ireland, separated from Bougainville in the Solomons by a permanent strait, may have served as another frontier point until a few millennia ago, for although the greatest distance of water to be crossed is only about thirty-five miles, via Feni, Nissan and Buka Islands, the straits are rough, deep and unprotected. From Bougainville raftsmen would have little trouble in reaching the remainder of the Solomons to San Cris- toval on the edge of the Pacific Moat. Possessors of more efficient watercraft, such as dugouts or outrigger canoes, who conceived of seafaring in terms of coastwise movements or inter-island voyages between visible landmarks, would be limited to the 14 some gGnerol region o.s the roftarmm. It l$ qui! ~ poi;!o-ibJo th(II !hoy ov<~r• tool: the raftsroen ot certoin points s-uch os New Irelond. ond in rel.:i.tive)y late tlmest ptoneered the occupation of the Solomon [sl<1nds. Only experienoed navtoalors wuh sturdy craft could have crossed the Pacific Moot to rooch tha Ceirolines, Santa Crui. New ~JedonlQ, n11. New Zealond, Hawaii and all the greot groups of i.:llilnd.s in Polyn8$i4, TheN), are, however, other factors which sened as mojor Hmiting aoents to lhe mt(,rr~Uoos o1 both early and lute prehistoric peoples. Regardless ol lheir meom of travarsi.nq waler berrte·t$, prhmHve hun.tln9 and wild food collecting peoples would hove remai.nOO in en environ• 1ner.t sal1sfactory to their tradJbon.al .:icti'fitfes only as far as New lrelond, Aui;lro)ja ana Temierua, for in the Solomon ts1ands and southern and eo,i;tern Mekine6io, ond in Micron-t&ia and Polyn.esla, lhel'e WO\lld have been no gnll".e to hunt ond virtuolly no edible wild plonts: to ooUt'ICI, Fishermen, provided they were properly equipped, would have hod no diffi¢Wty in malting a lMOQ ~nywhere tn the Pacific. But in most o! lhe iilands fishinq require& not only d: of special equtpment but al!!o the moblllty provided by geed wotercmit for Uw oxploitotion of the, prin¢ipo:1 $0ur<:e-e of lts.h 1n the greot banks, often far f:rom Jo:nd. Sinoe the mool primitive hl1nter11, !';\JCh es the "faamanfans and early Ausb-atlans, Jocked neb:, bo~ ond arrow:s, Jish,hoob and proper craft for putting to sea, it seems ll.l::ely thot they would h<:t'lfJ: h'>d gre&l d ilfi¢ulty in mttln, taJn1ng even a sparse population in the volc.mic isioncb; e,.,fl of New Jrel-,nd. end rniQhl ha\'e iitan1ed to death in some of the cor4l ls}onds. The Tasmonions. futhermor~, dtd rt.ol li$h.. The southwestern Austra• Jfons, (O':' lack cf watercr.ut, nets o..nd hook$, s.Ull conllne lhoir Jjshing octivities primarily to spearing in the i.halJow riV(U'$ and alooQ 1he sbor&• line. Since the only peoples who could have reached the ooedll.ic islands were n.aviqal¢rs in good watercraft, it con be presumOO. that !hey ofnNKiy h~ developed lh-e Ari ol oUshor'e fishing in lhe cloeely spi,.ced islands ,,..here they had been sustained by hu.nti1-..g and In later times by horti, culture. Hort1culh.tralis1$ who migrated eost of the Eost lndi8$ would hove found fAirly suitdble conditions everywhere, including AuetraUa 4nd T&ilno.nia, which they Md not yttt reac:hed at the beginning of the historic per1cxi, although in some of the ooral island$ 9atdenh¥J would ha\•e been limUed to oel'kltn plants. Bui it would h:: /tl reached during AUSTRALIA Abundant fish along zO O P<:Q O periods of lower NEW IRELAND coasts and m rivers. :::>2 Cl Z Z Ow ,-l sea level, such as Bass Strait ::i:: (I) 8Q o_ during _Glacial TASMANIA w~ Cl E-< Q,, (I) ::,Cl (!) $~ PACIFIC MOAT g~ ~z i:>::-< O,o:: No animals. ::E ;;,.~ !G mposs1 e ..:: g ,-l vi -1 -g 0 0 ° h z ,-l ::;: ;:; w _.-< Few birds. ffi O loreac ..:: 0 uSO ::i:: ~o - O ;.:i . h p.; o,; ::::l ;s: ;s: Very few edible wild plants. i:.... C!J c.: wit out o:,; ,..:

Fig. 2. Outrigger canoe model, Aua Island. (length 6' 8¾') 17